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An El Paso man has been indicted in connection with a pair of “road rage” shootings during the summer, police officials said Wednesday.

The indictments issued last month in the El Paso cases come as the death of a 4-year-old girl in a freeway shooting in Albuquerque on Tuesday has placed road rage in the national spotlight.

El Paso police officials said investigators arrested Carlos Nieves, 32, in August in connection with two shootings in the Northeast and the far East Side. No one was shot in either case.

Last month, Nieves was indicted on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, evading arrest in a vehicle and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, according to police, court and jail records.

Nieves, who also had several traffic warrants, remained jailed Wednesday under a total bond of more than $86,000.

On May 25, a woman was driving with her family on the U.S. 54 North and was exiting on Diana Drive when a man in a car began to tailgate her, said Detective Javier Sambrano, a police spokesman.

The car followed the woman into the parking lot of the Sam’s Club store on Diana Drive, police said. The car then got in front of the woman’s car, trying to make her stop. When she drove around the man’s car, Nieves allegedly got out and fired a handgun, police said.

Nieves also is suspected in a separate road rage shooting a month later.

On June 21, a woman was driving north on Loop 375 and was merging onto Interstate 10 West when she changed lanes to pass a car, Sambrano said.

“As soon as the victim passed the suspect, he began to honk and yell at the victim,” Sambrano said. “The suspect followed her on I-10 and reached for a handgun. The suspect began to fire the gun at the victim, but the victim managed to slow down to avoid being struck.”

Police said that investigators received a tip that identified Nieves as the alleged shooter after the cases were featured as the Crime Stoppers of El Paso’s Crime of the Week in late July.

On Aug. 7, Nieves was arrested after a patrol officer saw him in a 1994 Chevrolet pickup allegedly run a stop sign in the 9000 block of Mercury Street in Northeast El Paso, Sambrano said.

Officers tried to pull over the truck, but the driver refused to stop and eventually crashed in the 10200 block of Kenworthy Street, police said.

Police said that Nieves allegedly ran from the crash but was found hiding in the backyard of a home on El Campo Drive.

El Paso police have investigated at least three road rage shootings this year, but police officials said it is difficult to know if road rage cases are on the increase locally.

The third road rage shooting was on Aug. 20 when a 20-year-old man was shot and wounded after stopping on the side of the road to argue with another driver on U.S. 54 near Hondo Pass Drive. An investigation continues.

Police spokesman Sgt. Enrique Carrillo said that road rage is difficult to track because it is not a specific crime category and can range from obscene gestures to traffic violations and the use of firearms.

On Tuesday, Lily Garcia was fatally shot while riding in a pickup driven by her father on Interstate 40 in Albuquerque. The Associated Press reported that Albuquerque police on Wednesday detained a person in connection with the case.

Drivers should take a moment to calm down when facing flaring tempers in traffic, said Scott Morofsky, wellness author of the book “The Daily Breath: Transform Your Life One Breath at a Time."

Morofsky advised drivers to take a deep breath, count to 10 and calm down. Drivers should ignore and not react to others who may have infuriating driving habits, he said.

“Breathe and ask yourself, is my problem important enough to risk lives?” Morofsky said in news release on avoiding road rage. “Taking a few conscious breaths could prevent a catastrophe."

Daniel Borunda may be reached at 546-6102; dborunda@elpasotimes.com; @BorundaDaniel.